Rotary stay release

ABSTRACT

A stay release for anchoring and tensioning a stay wire on a sailboat is comprised of a generally cylindrical housing which is secured to the deck of the boat. A rotary lever is arranged to engage a fitting at the end of the stay wire when the fitting is inserted through an opening in the housing. The rotary member can be turned by a winch handle or the like through an angle of about 180*, thereby pulling the stay wire down toward the deck and tensioning it. A spring loaded pin mounted in the housing engages the rotary member and locks it in a position at which the stay wire passes just beyond the axis of the rotary member so that the stay wire does not tend to rotate the lever in the opposite direction, yet imparts relatively little torque to that member.

[ 51 Feb. 25, 1975 United States Patent [1 1 Merry ROTARY STAY RELEASE [75] Inventor: Carl Alan Merry, Marion, Mass.

[73] Assignee: Schaefer Marine Products, New

Bedford, Mass.

[22] Filed: June 8, 1973 [21] Appl. No.: 368,013

[52] U.S. Cl 114/109, 52/149, 74/506, 254/77 [51] Int. Cl. B63h 9/08 [58] Field of Search 114/108, 109; 254/51, 77, 254/78; 280/179 R, 179 A; 292/207, 278, 307, 341.17; 24/68, 69, 273; 403/59, 381, 410; 74/50 R, 506, 489; 52/149, 150

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 311,605 2/1885 Pickenpack 114/109 2,787,169 4/1957 Farr et a]. 74/506 2,910,859 ll/l959 Allen et al. 292/207 2,919,895 1/1960 Johnson 254/78 3,352,173 11/1967 Freeland 74/489 3,409,263 11/1968 280/179 R 3,620,182 11/1971 Russell 114/109 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 838,363 6/1960 Great Britain 52/149 Primary Examiner-Trygve M. Blix Assistant Examiner-Galen L. Barefoot Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Cesari and McKenna [57] ABSTRACT 7 mounted in the housing engages the rotary member and locks it in a position at which the stay wire passes just beyond the axis of the rotary member so that the stay wire does not tend to rotate the lever in the opposite direction, yet imparts relatively little torque to that member.

3 Claims, 8 Drawing Figures PATENTED 55251975 3, 867. 898

FIG? FIG. 8

1 ROTARY STAY RELEASE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to a sailboat fitting. It relates more particularly to a stay release which anchors and tensions a stay wire on the sailboat.

Sailboats commonly are provided with a stay wire which stretches between the mast and the sailboat deck. The lower end of the stay wire is secured to the deck or not, depending upon the running conditions. Usually, the securement is accomplished by means of a stay release which can be manipulated to grasp the stay wire and tension it when the need arises to bend or rake the mast.

Conventional stay releases are usually in the form of toggles which are attached to the deck. When it is desired to anchor the stay wire, the end of the wire is engaged over the toggle and the toggle arm is swung down toward the deck, pulling the stay wire with it.

While they perform their anchoring function satisfactorily, prior devices of this type are relatively bulky. Furthermore, they are comprised of several members which are loosely coupled to one another so that when the stay release is not in use, its parts tend to flop around on the boat deck, causing noise and inconvenience.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, the present invention aims to provide a stay release which is small and compact.

Another object of the invention is to provide a stay release having no loose parts.

A further object of the invention is to provide a stay release which is rugged and reliable.

Another object is to provide a stay release which can securely anchor a stay wire and maintain it under relatively great tension.

Yet another object of the invention is to provide a stay release which can be operated quickly and easily by the average sailor.

Other objects will in part be obvious and will in part appear hereinafter.

The invention accordingly comprises the features of construction, combination of elements and arrangement of parts which will be exemplified by the following detailed description, and the scope of the invention will be indicated in the claims.

Briefly, the stay release is comprised of a housing which is secured to the boat deck. A T-shaped fitting at the end of the stay wire can be inserted through an opening in the housing into a notch in a rotary lever inside the housing. The lever is then rotated by means of a conventional winch handle so that the T is pulled down toward the boat deck, thereby tensioning the stay wire.

The lever is turned until the stay wire passes beyond the axis of rotation of the lever so that there is no tendency for the lever to rotate in the opposite direction. At this point, a spring-loaded pin mounted in the housing snaps into an opening in the lever, thereby locking it. When the lever is in its locked position, the axis of the stay wire is still very near the axis of rotation of the lever so that a minimum amount of torque is imparted to that member by the stay wire when the fixture is in use.

The stay wire is released from the fixture by retract-1 ing the pin from its opening and, using the winch handle, rotating the lever in the opposite direction until the stay wire moves to the opposite side of the lever axis, whereupon the stay wire pulls the lever further around until the T-shaped fitting is brought opposite the opening in the housing for release.

Because of its small, compact construction, the present stay release is superior to conventional fittings of this type. Furthermore, it has no loose parts which can flop around on the deck when the stay wire is detached.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING For a fuller understanding of the nature and objects of the invention, reference should be had to the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a sailboat outfitted with the rotary stay release of this invention (size exaggerated);

FIG. 2 is a perspective view thereof on a larger scale showing the stay disengaged;

FIG. 3 is a side elevational view thereof showing the stay engaged but untensioned;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view thereof with the housing shown in dotted lines;

FIG. 5 is a view similar to FIG. 4 showing the rotary release lever rotated partially toward its locked positron;

FIG. 6 is a view similar to FIG. 3 showing the rotary release lever in its locked position;

FIG. 7 is a sectional view alongline 7-7 of FIG. 2 with the housing removed, and

FIG. 8 is a sectional view similar to FIG. 7 but along line 88 of FIG. 2.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Turning now to FIG. I of the drawing, the sailboat is provided with a mast 10. One end of a stay wire 12 is secured about three quarters of the way up on the mast 10 and the opposite end of the wire is anchored to the boat deck 14 by means of the subject stay release shown generally at 16.

Turning now to FIG. 2, the stay release 16 includes a generally cylindrical housing 22 having a base or pedestal 24 which is secured to boat deck 14 by means of screws 26.

Housing 22 contains a rotary lever 28 which will be described in more detail presently. The housing also has an end wall 22a with an opening 32 through which access is had to a star-shaped recess 34 in the end of the lever 28. A conventional winch handle 36 (FIG. 2) can be engaged in opening 34 and turned to rotate lever 28 from its open or unlocked position shown in FIGS. 2 to 4 to its locked position illustrated in FIG. 6.

Still referring to FIG. 2 the lower end of the stay wire 12 is connected to one end of a turnbuckle 37 whose other end terminates in a T-shaped fitting 38. The turnbuckle allows one to adjust the overall length of the stay wire to some extent.

Housing 22 has an inverted T-shaped opening 44 through which the fitting 38 can be passed into the housing for engagement by the lever 28. In other words, opening 44 has a lateral portion 440 which accommodates the arms 38a of fitting 38 and a circumferential portion 44b which accommodates the leg 38b of the fitting. Opening portion 44b extends quite a distance around housing 22, say, through about of arc.

Referring now to FIG. 4, the rotary lever 28 has the form of a generally cylindrical drum which is rotatively received in housing 22. In other words, its diameter is very slightly smaller than the inside diameter of housing 22 so that the lever is constrained to rotate within the housing about a fixed axis A (FIGS. 3 and 6). It is retained axially by end wall 22a.

The end of lever 28 adjacent opening 34 is tapered at 28a to conform to a taper in the edge of opening 32. Also, an axial groove 46 is formed in the lever which is dimensioned to receive the arms 38a of fitting 38 (FIG. 2). To enable the lever to be rotated with the fitting 38 engaged in groove 46, the lever has a transverse slot 48 which extends most of the way through the lever and is just wide enough to accommodate fitting leg 38b (FIGS. and 8).

As best seen in FIGS. 5 and 7, lever 28 also has a relatively shallow groove 50 extending about one third of the way around its circumference. One end of the groove is notched at 52 to form a flat which has a dimple 53 and a hole 54 is formed in the bottom of groove 50 at the other end thereof.

To anchor the stay wire 12, the T-shaped fitting 38 is inserted through the housing opening 44 and seated in the lever recess 46 as seen in FIGS. 3 and 4. Then the lever is rotated clockwise by means of the winch handle 36. This rotation causes the fitting 38 to be pulled downward toward the deck 14 as best seen in FIG. 5, thereby tensioning the stay wire. Lever 28 is rotated until the fitting arms 38a are directly below axis A as shown in FIG. 6 and it is locked in this position by means of a pin 62 slidably mounted in housing 22 and whose end, riding in groove 50, projects into hole 54. Pin 62 is actually mounted in a small antechamber 66 in housing 22 which also accommodates a coil spring 68. The spring 68 reacts between the outside wall of antechamber 66 and a collar 72 secured to the pin so as to bias the pin inwardly toward axis A. Pin 62 is provided with a ring-like handle 6211 through which handle 36 can be inserted to facilitate retracting the pin from hole 54 in opposition to the spring bias.

As best seen in FIG. 6, when the stay release is in its locked or latched position, the axis of stay wire 12 lies just to the left of the rotary axis A. In other words, in its latched position, the fitting 38 is just over center so that even if pin 62 is retracted from opening 54, the lever 28 will not turn counter-clockwise and release the stay wire. It should be noted, however, that the tensioned stay wire is still very close to axis A so that it imparts minimum torque to the lever. Also the force exerted by the stay on the lever 28 is exerted adjacent to the unslotted portion 58 of the lever which is the strongest part of that member (FIG. 8).

When it is desired to release the stay wire, pin 62 is retracted from hole 54 and the lever 28 is rotated counterclockwise by means of the winch handle 36 until the fitting 38 is moved back beyond the rotary axis A. whereupon the tensioned stay wire will tend to rotate lever 28 still further in this direction until the pin 62 engages the end of groove 50 adjacent flat 52. The pin then seats in dimple 53 which positions the lever so that fitting 38 is directly opposite opening 44 through which it can be released.

It should be mentioned at this point that the distance between the outside wall of antechamber 66 and the collar 72 is such that pin 62 cannot be retracted from groove 50. This assures that lever 28 can only rotate counterclockwise from its locked position shown in FIG. 6. In other words, further clockwise rotation from that point is prevented because the pin 62 engages the end of groove50 adjacent hole 54. Similarly the lever can only be rotated clockwise from its FIG. 2 position because of groove 50 and pin 62.

It will be appreciated from the foregoing, then, that the subject stay release firmly anchors the stay wire 12 to the deck 14. Yet the device itself is quite small and compact. Furthermore, it has no loose parts that might tend to flop around on the deck when it is not actually being used. On the other hand, because of its relatively simple, unique rotary construction, the stay release is quite rugged and reliable and should have a relatively long, useful life.

It will thus be seen that the objects set forth above, among those made apparent from the preceding description, are efficiently attained and, since certain changes may be made in the above description without departing from the scope of the invention, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawing shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

It is also to be understood that the following claims are intended to cover the generic and specific features of the invention herein described.

I claim: 1. A stay release for anchoring and tensioning a stay wire on a boat comprising A. a housing whose inside volume is generally cylindrical in shape, B. a generally cylindrical drum whose diameter is slightly less than the diameter of the inside volume of the housing, said drum being mounted inside the housing for rotation about its axis, C. an abutment on the drum, D. a channel extending from the abutment diametrically through the drum, E. a circumferential slot in the top wall of the housing, said slot being aligned with the channel in the drum so that an elongated rigid fixture can be inserted through the housing to engage the abutment, and the drum can be rotated about its axis so that the abutment is moved from an upper position to a lower position within the housing with the fixture extending through the channel and projecting out of the slot, F. means for rotating the drum around its axis between its two positions, and G. means for stopping the drum in its lower position. 2. The stay release defined in claim 1 and further including means for locking the drum in its lower position.

3. A stay release system comprising A. a stay wire having one end anchored to a mast and its other end terminating in a fitting, B. a stay release as defined in claim 1 anchored well below said one end, and C. wherein l. the fitting is engaged by the drum abutment on one side of the rotary axis of the drum, and

2. when the drum is rotated to its lower position, the stay wire is pulled downward and moved just to the other side of the rotary axis of the drum so that the tensioned stay wire does not tend to rotate the drum in the opposite untensioning direction, yet exerts relatively little torque on the drum. 

1. A stay release for anchoring and tensioning a stay wire on a boat comprising A. a housing whose inside volume is generally cylindrical in shape, B. a generally cylindrical drum whose diameter is slightly less than the diameter of the inside volume of the housing, said drum being mounted inside the housing for rotation about its axis, C. an abutment on the drum, D. a channel extending from the abutment diametrically through the drum, E. a circumferential slot in the top wall of the housing, said slot being aligned with the channel in the drum so that an elongated rigid fixture can be inserted through the housing to engage the abutment, and the drum can be rotated about its axis so that the abutment is moved from an upper position to a lower position within the housing with the fixture extending through the channel and projecting out of the slot, F. means for rotating the drum around its axis between its two positions, and G. means for stopping the drum in its lower position.
 2. The stay release defined in claim 1 and further including means for locking the drum in its lower position.
 2. when the drum is rotated to its lower position, the stay wire is pulled downward and moved just to the other side of the rotary axis of the drum so that the tensioned stay wire does not tend to rotate the drum in the opposite untensioning direction, yet exerts relatively little torque on the drum.
 3. A stay release system comprising A. a stay wire having one end anchored to a mast and its other end terminating in a fitting, B. a stay release as defined in claim 1 anchored well below said one end, and C. wherein 